Jan 22 - Get our traditional Maldivian breakfast at 8:00 and rent some masks, snorkels, and fins ($5/day for one set/day). Then we are free to just find where we want to get in the water and swim out to the reef wall. The best spots are on the south (leeward) shore, from where our guesthouse is, out to the western tip of the island. Here there is just a long tongue of sand stretching out from the last palm trees. The ‘bikini beach’ is just by here, a small, semi-fenced area designated for non-Muslim women to wear what they want. Any beach-going outside of this small area is mandated as staying within Islamic convention, so covered arms and legs for women.
To remind us of the culture we are in, there is the requisite call to prayer from a tiny mosque in the middle of town. At this point, we would think it strange if we didn’t hear it. Also, of some impact to typical Western beach party tourism, alcohol is forbidden here. The Maldives became an important stopover for Arab traders in the 12th century onward, and Islam spread quickly (the last Buddhist king, Dhovemi, converted in 1153 CE).
Just west of the above photo is the stretch of ‘bikini beach’ and beyond that the end of the island. There are probably 20-30 tourists here, which I’m guessing is the majority of those staying on the whole island. For such a beautiful place, it is amazing to see it so devoid of hotels and cruise ships.
Spend a lot of time today snorkeling. So many hours, in fact, that I manage to burn the hell out of the back of my legs. The reef wall is about 100 meters from shore. Not having the capacity to take photos underwater, I can only relate by writing some of the more interesting animals we saw:
- Trumpetfish, including a yellow species. They often ‘ghost’ us as we move along the reef.
- Members of the Naso genus, commonly known as unicornfishes
- Several types of angelfish
- Many, many species of parrotfish. It gets difficult to identify the individual types as the coloration is so varied.
- An octopus! Watched it for a long time, as it continually changed colors to blend into the coral head.
- A stonefish. Usually I see them wedged in some rock or in the sand. This one was out in full view.
- Some pufferfish, look a bit like the starry type.
- On my last venture out, spot a black-tip reef shark, about 1 meter long.
Janet and Odette go for a walk around the island.
In the early evening, go once again to stingray feeding time.
Later still, we head out to the beach to see the bioluminescent plankton (a type of dinoflagellate). Tonight is a really good display, but in a different part of the shore than last night. The light they produce is a low energy, ‘cold’ type, from a chemical called luciferin.